Better World with Better Products
State of Green presents: the sustainable island
28/06/2012
Denmark has decided to lead the transition to a green growth economy and will be independent of fossil fuels by 2050 as the first country in the world. As the official green brand for Denmark, State of Green gathers all leading players in the fields of energy, climate, water and environment and fosters relations with international stakeholders interested in learning from the Danish experience. A very interesting part of this experience stems from the island of Samsø.
At Samsø the residents had a plan back in 1997: They wanted to become completely energy independent. Today, they have all the energy they need, provided solely by their own wind turbines. They even produce enough energy to skip the fuel and drive on electricity instead!
So how did they do it?
In 1997, Samsø won a government competition to become a model renewable energy community. At the time, they were entirely dependent on oil and coal, imported from the mainland. But from that point, they began investing in wind turbines and biofuel.
The investment in wind turbines has paid back in just a few years and today Samsø has no worries about energy bills whatsoever. Samsø’s electricity is now 100 % provided by wind turbines. Furthermore, 75 % of its heat comes from solar power and biomass. Quite a change for the better.
Sharing knowledge and experience
Samsø has amassed a great deal of concrete experiences with the implementation of a broad variety of local renewable energy projects, from wind turbines to CO2 neutral district heating plants, rapeseed oil tractors and solar energy panels – Samsø surely sets the good example for societies wanting to become energy independent.
Luckily they also share their experience with other people, being energy concerned companies as well as ‘average’ people, curious about the Samsø project. Therefore, Samsø has created a new attraction: the Energy Academy.
Danish and international scientists spend time at the Academy doing research based on the easy access to the different energy systems (and the people who initiated them); wind turbines, straw-based districting heating and thermal solar panels systems – everything close at hand.
The Academy also functions as a conference centre where companies, scientists and politicians can discuss renewable energy, energy savings and new technologies.
Samsø is a very inspiring project, if you are in anyway concerned about sustainability and renewables. And the Academy is worth a visit! If you want to visit the Energy Academy, it is open for guests in the summer time from June 26 until August 16.
Visit Samsø at State of Green: http://www.stateofgreen.com/en/Profiles/Samsoe-Energy-Academy
Visit the homepage of the Energy Academy: http://energiakademiet.dk/en/
